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Brookside Becomes Home To Container House

A Brookside neighborhood is about to become home to the area's first container house.

The house at 60th and Charlotte streets is made of used, stainless steel cargo containers. The 40'x8' containers are similar to the ones you'd see on trains and tractor-trailers, except the ones for the house are taller.

"The top two containers will be a master bedroom suite. They have walk-in closets, full bath and shower," said Debbie Glassberg with Home Contained LLC.

Glassberg plans to live in the Brookside home, and she hopes to build others like it.

The containers arrived about three weeks ago from China.

"We're leaving the containers as they are. We feel when we cover the trim around the edges, it's just going to look like a modern house," Glassberg told KMBC's Bev Chapman.

Panels will be removed to make the doors, and lots of windows will give the narrow space an open look, Chapman reported.

The construction will use the latest in green materials and technology, Glassberg said. With the help of BNIM Architects, they're using geothermal heat, soy foam insulation and bamboo flooring.

The container house is in the middle of a traditional block filled with bungalow homes.

"(Neighbors are) always out watching. Sometimes we can't get any work done because they want to talk about it. But all in all, we've had good reactions," Glassberg said.

The house should be ready in about five months. When finished, it will be 2,000 square feet, have two bedrooms and a large office in back.

It's a big space for a woman who started her career on a smaller scale.

"My background is in toys. I've designed many houses for many dolls, so this is actually a dream of mine to design a house I get to live in myself. It's been fun," Glassberg said.

This model of house building could one day be used to help disaster victims who have lost their homes. The container homes could be shipped to the areas, ready to assemble, complete with decorating materials inside.

Chris Colabello hit a two-run home run, R.A. Dickey threw seven shutout innings and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals 5-2 in testy matchup Sunday, taking three of four from the AL's top team.